Pieces of me
by Ice-wolf-elemental
Summary: William Brandt was left shattered, after failing to protect his assigned assets. It seems like he'd never be the same, until he's thrown together with Ethan Hunt and his team, and meets Nikki Hansen; an IMF agent with a fiery spirit that he no longer has. Will she be able to put the pieces of him back together? Brandt/OC
1. Chapter 1

"Where is he…" Benji sing-songed as he sat propped up against the wall on the ground and tapped nervously on the floor next to him.

Nikki glanced up at Benji next to her, "Relax…He'll be here." She answered then resumed cleaning one of the guns. She remained strong on the outside but really a part of her was just as worried as Benji.

The guns she was cleaning were her solace. It was the only way she could relax herself. She couldn't just sit around and wait. She had to keep herself occupied. Distracted at least. From the thought that their team leader might not return, that he was dead.

Nikki pushed that idea from her head, no he couldn't be. _Ethan's the most resourceful person I know_. She thought. _He got out of that explosion. He had to have._

But with each passing minute that thought slowly crept back into her mind again. Nikki would glance around the room every so often and she could see that everyone had the same thing on their mind.

*Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap*

"Benji…" Jane called annoyed from the opposite end of them. He didn't hear her. He was staring off into the distance.

"Benji." Nikki said more firmly, reaching over and clasping her hand over his, making the tapping stop.

"Right. Relax. Got it. I'm relaxed. See!" He forceful exhales his breath "Done. Relaxed."

Jane gives him a questionable look, unconvinced.

As soon as Nikki retracts her hand a buzzing sound can be heard from the other side of the door, outside of the train.

Everyone looks at each other.

The door starts to open.

Nikki shot up from her spot on the floor, her swift movement causing her ebony hair to whip back in her ponytail. She instantly shut down the lights while at the same time, Benji and Jane sprung up from the ground, grabbing the nearest gun.

Nikki instantly went for the G36C, snatching it from its mould and sitting it nicely against her shoulder. She aimed it straight at the entrance along with Benji and Jane, where two intruders now lie on the floor at their feet.

Someone shut the door. The inner door closed with a rivet and the entire compartment lit up.

To everyone's surprise it was Ethan, along with someone new. Ethan held his hand up prompting the team to lower their weapons.

"Ethan? Jeez, I thought you were dead!" Benji said shocked.

"We are." The guy next to Ethan replied standing up, causing everyone to raise their guns to him again.

"Who's this?" Nikki asked, surveying the soaking man that stood in front of her. The man was ruggedly handsome, with light brown hair and a face that somehow retained a hint of innocence. He glanced at Nikki, eyes lingering a second longer than necessary.

She forced herself to meet that direct gaze without flinching, trying not to wonder if her own eyes were revealing the intrigue building within the back of her mind. His blue eyes stared intensely into hers, sending a shudder through her body. He was taking her in, just as she was.

She shifted slightly in her stance, blaming the cool breeze for her sudden edginess. She couldn't hold his gaze any longer and looked to Ethan for confirmation.

"Agent Hansen" Ethan motions to Nikki, "Dunn" he quickly points to Benji. "and Carter." he gestures to Jane. "William Brandt, Chief Analyst." Ethan said out of breath, introducing the team.

"Analyst..." Jane said, looking at him cautiously.

Ethan got up and walked over to the side of the train, pulling down a screen mounted on the wall and making it into a table.

He placed a flash drive on top of it. "_Agent Confirmed." _The screen echoed as Ethan put on the headphones he was carrying.

Nikki looked back at Agent Brandt and gave him a once over. _Analyst? What was a guy like him doing in an analyst position? He certainly didn't look like an analyst. But then again, what do analysts look like? _She wondered

"What happened?" She asked, gesturing to his soaking clothes. He cleared his throat then spoke.

"We we're ambushed…" he replied quietly, still reeling over the events that took place moments ago. Nikki didn't pry any further, didn't need too. She already had some sort of idea in her head of the probable scenario that went down. One of Ethan's wildly executed, yet genius plans, which effectively lead to their eventual escape.

Brandt took a quick glance around and saw that the train carriage had been converted into a well-stocked cache and safe house. Weapons lockers lined silver metal walls that curved into the shape of the train; with one entire corner of the compartment reserved as a high tech operations centre, complete with computer consoles and plasma screens.

Then he spotted two bunk beds wedged into the upper half of the walls. He could really use some rest right now, he was cold and exhausted from the night's trails.

Nikki noticed Brandt looking around the room uncomfortably, keeping his hands folded close to his chest. _He's freezing_.

"Hey." She motioned with her head for him to follow her, then moved to the back of the train where she grabbed him a towel from the top shelf and chucked it at him.

He collapsed into one of the chairs and patted his face down, watching her rummaged through the drawers looking for some dry clothes. For some reason he felt drawn to her; it wasn't a prominent feeling, more of an inclining in the back of his mind. When he first laid eyes on her he saw strength in her that he no longer had. Fire blazed in her brown eyes that were every inch lethal, yet captivating.

He traced her frame with his eyes. Skinny jeans hugged her lithe figure and she wore a simple dark grey shirt under her black jacket; sleeves rolled up, even in the cold compartment. Her arrow straight hair was half pulled into a ponytail, while the other half fell past her shoulders. A determined look plastered her face as she searched for a suitable jumper whilst listening to the monitor overlaying a video of a conference.

Brandt looked down at the floor and continued to wipe himself down, having gazed at her for a moment too long.

"_How will the world finally end?" _The woman translated as the man on the screen spoke Russian. _"It is my job to predict the unthinkable. To treat the death of billions as a game." _

Nikki finds a suitable jumper and pulls it out from the drawer, handing it over to Brandt. He looks up and takes it from her, fingers slightly brushing over hers which sent a tingling feeling up her hand.

"Thanks." He mutters staring up at her. Curious eyes search hers for something but only for a split second. She gives him a slight nod then crosses the floor to the other end of the compartment and sits down on the ground facing the screen, listening intently.

Brant pulls off his wet jacket and slips on the jumper, grateful for the warmth it brought to his body.

Her thoughts gravitate back to Brandt's presence in the chair a few times, but she didn't know why. _He's new here. It's my job to look out for him,_ she justified to herself. She glanced across at him, surveying him again. _He looks like he can take care of himself._ She concluded ignoring any more thoughts that came to mind and shifting her full attention back to the screen displaying the twisted speech.

_"After 20 years of this, I was numb. Until a new question crossed my mind. What happens after the end of the world? Every two or three million years…"_

For a moment Nikki hears Ethan's irritated voice speaking quietly into the phone but then looks back at the monitor.

_"…some natural catastrophe devastates all life on Earth. But life goes on."_

Brandt seems to pace across the room. The speech was unsettling him even though he'd heard it all before.

_"And what little remains is made stronger. Put simply world destruction is an unpleasant, but necessary part of evolution."_

Everyone suddenly hears a whooshing noise from the other end of the compartment. Brandt had leant against a panel that opened up the wall full of weapons, scaring both him and Benji in the process.

Jane glares holes in his head, irritated by his presence. Brandt tried to act cool about it, nodding his head to the group, but Nikki couldn't help it and smirked at his awkwardness.

"You good?" She asked amused. "Huh? Oh- uh yeah." He replied uncomfortably.

She turned her gaze back towards the screen while he takes a seat on the floor to the right of her.

"_What happens then, I wondered, when mankind faces the next end of the world? I looked to Hiroshima, Nagasaki…" _The woman said still translating. _"…thriving cities rebuilt from the ashes, monuments to the unimaginable, dedicated to the concept of peace. It occurred to me here that nuclear war might have a place in the natural order. But only if it could be controlled. Only if it touched every living soul _equally_." _The woman finished translating and the man on the screen looked at the camera as if he were pointedly looking at all of them. The speech was twisted and perverted.

"IMF now believes this man, Kurt Hendricks, is the nuclear extremist, code name Cobalt." Ethan said. "Today he was seen leaving the Kremlin, with what is likely a nuclear launch device." Ethan paused and looked at everyone. "Two days ago, Sabine Moreau killed one of our agents in Budapest and relieved him of Russian nuclear launch codes. Intel indicates she will check into the Burj Hotel in Dubai in 36 hours. Marius Wistrom is a known operative of Cobalt. Wistrom is currently en route to Dubai. For the launch device to work, Cobalt needs the activation codes. He's sending Wistrom to buy them from Moreau. The Secretary is dead." Ethan announced.

Jane gasps.

"What?" Nikki declared shocked. She spun her head around to look at Brandt for confirmation as he sat beside her. She watched him shake his head in despair. The probable scenario of what she thought had gone down flew out the window at those four words. _I had it all wrong_, she thought.

"The President has invoked Ghost Protocol. We're shut down. No satellite, safe house, support, or extraction. The five of us and the contents of this car are all that remain of the IMF. And as of this moment, any action is unsanctioned. So if you want out, speak now."

Everyone looked around but no one said anything. Nikki already knew everyone was on board no matter what, but Brandt, she wasn't so sure about; so she turned to look at him, as did pretty much everyone else.

Brandt opens his mouth to speak but thinks better of it and so keeps his mouth shut.

"Our mission is Hendricks. We're all that stands between him and his goal. Nothing can be left to chance. Everyone connected with this man is considered an asset with valuable information about our target. No one can know we're still on line. We lose Hendricks now, we lose him forever." Ethan finished.

"So, what's the play?" Jane asked.

"Wistrom will take delivery from Moreau in 36 hours. Now we cannot let the launch codes leave the hotel, but we need Wistrom to lead us to Hendricks." Ethan said.

"He'll only do that if he has the codes." Brandt taunted, knowing full well that that wasn't going to happen.

"Or if he thinks he has them." Nikki counters, after seeing how Brandt's comment seemed to annoy Jane.

"Our objective is to intercept the sale, replace the authentic codes with counterfeits and follow Wistrom to Hendricks." Ethan said.

"Well, that's simple enough." Benji said. "We snatch the codes, we gin up some fakes. Jane you double Moreau, and sell the codes to Wistrom and Bob's your uncle."

"And how do you propose we just snatch the codes from Moreau?" Brandt said doubtfully. Sure the plan sounded simple, but it never is simple. Something always goes wrong. He of all people knew that.

"We take her out." Jane said simply.

Nikki glances at Jane. From Jane's tone she could tell her loss was still fresh, just buried beneath a thin layer below the surface. Ethan detected the exact same thing.

"Yeah, we take her out. But, you know, discreetly." Benji established.

"Discreetly?" Brandt asked unconvinced.

"Yeah." Benji said in an obvious tone to Brandt.

As much as Nikki wanted her dead, in fact as much as everyone wanted her dead, she knew that Moreau was still an asset. There was still a slight possibility of her coming in handy and that slight possibility was still better than nothing. She sighed heavily, looking up. "Benji, we can't." she reminded him.

Benji gave her a confused expression then glanced over at Ethan.

Ethan gave Benji a look. "Right, she's an asset. Right. I get it. Sorry. Nothing left to chance." Benji said and then Jane also gave him a look. "He said- I'm spitballing. It's not all gonna be gold."

"We don't touch Wistrom." Ethan exclaimed aggravated.

"All right." Benji concurred.

"Or Moreau." Ethan continued. The comment specifically directed at Jane. "She'll answer for Hanaway." Ethan told her when she looked sharply at him. "But it has to be when I say. After we hit Hendricks."

Nikki looked from Jane to Ethan, then back again. Tensions were high and from their looks you just knew invisible words were being exchanged.

Ethan turned his head slightly to look back at Brandt and Nikki. "Get ready." He declared.

Nikki quickly stands up and nods to Benji to follow, along with Brandt. They quickly go off and start packing, leaving Jane and Ethan for a few seconds. Jane just gives Ethan a look and then pushes past him, walking off to get ready, both hurt and angry that she can't get her revenge.


	2. Chapter 2

Nikki is at the side-bench loading up handguns and checking them when Jane appears next to her. Jane places her hands on the edge of the bench in front of her and exhales, just taking a moment for a breather, trying to get her mind back in the game.

Nikki glances at her from the corner of her eye. She wanted to say something but she couldn't think of anything that would comfort Jane. She didn't know what it was like to loose someone that important, to hold someone so close to your heart. Her words would be pointless, and Jane's never had much patience for pointless things.

So instead Nikki takes a gun from the bench and hands it to her. Jane looks at the gun then back up at her.

She takes the gun, checks the barrel, and then slides it back in anger, taking out all her rage on the gun. It's obvious she needed that. She had to get her frustration out on something.

Soon, everyone falls into a steady place gathering up equipment and weapons. "Only pack what we need." Ethan announces after a while.

"Yeah, absolutely. Only pack what we… You never know." Benji repeated.

"Brandt, catch." Nikki calls, a few meters away from him. He looks up from what he's doing and she chucks him a small case of communication earphones, which he catches and stuffs into the bag in front of him.

Once everyone has gotten all their equipment packed and ready to go, Ethan turns to the entire team, "We've got about 3 hours before we get off this train and head towards the airport. I suggest you get some rest."

Brandt goes back to his corner and sits down on the floor, leaning his head against the wall next to him and closing his eyes. Nikki takes her place a few meters down from where he is, along the opposite wall, while Benji sleeps in the bunk at the other end of the compartment. Ethan lies flat on the ground with one hand over his eyes; close to were Benji is, and Jane rests on the other bunk overlooking the both of them.

The room quickly falls silent.

Nikki closes her eyes and tries to drift off to sleep but sleep won't come. She shifts around a couple of times, trying to get comfortable but no matter how she adjusts herself, the floor still remains hard and cold.

Giving up, She opens her eyes and looks down at her watch. An hour had already passed. She exhales softly then just stares up at the ceiling annoyed.

After a while she suddenly hears a faint noise coming from the corner.

She looks over to see Brandt mumbling in his sleep. He seems slightly distressed judging by the sudden small jerks in his sleep and small beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

Nikki looks down at the other end of the compartment to see if anyone else is awake. But they're all resting soundly. Still in the same position they were in before.

She can vaguely pick up some of the words he's saying. "...-Sorry… -warned…-should've…"

She slowly gets up and kneels down in front of him. "Brandt." She whispers.

"-couldn't…" His head jerks to the side and his breathing is strong. "Brandt. Wake up." Nikki utters again.

"…-I'm sorry." He murmurs, eyes shifting beneath his eyelids still caught in his nightmare. He seems even more distressed so she reaches out and gives him a little shake "Will wake up."

Brandt gasps as his eyes snap open, instantly sitting up, giving Nikki such a fright it causes her to fall back. "Geeze." she exhales in astonishment.

She glances up at him and notices he's breathing heavily. He looks around at his surroundings then back at her with a confused and fearful expression. He swallows, blinking a few times.

"Are you ok?" She asks concerned. He rubs his eyes with his fingers and shakes his head, like he's trying to get rid of a memory. "Yeah, I'm fine." He replies, rubbing his forehead.

She's not convinced and continues to stare at him worried. He looks up from the ground and stares at her intently, his breathing is returning to normal. "Really I'm fine Agent Hansen."

"It's Nikki. Just call me Nikki," she says instinctively.

He nods then gives her a sympathetic look. "Sorry I scared you."

She shook her head; laughed almost. _It wasn't his fault_. "It's alright."

He runs his hand through his hair then smirks at her still sitting in the same spot absentmindedly staring at him. "You should get some rest." He says as his heartbeat starts slowing to a less frantic pace.

She snaps out of her daze "Oh, I uh-" she chuckles "I can't sleep."

He lightly chuckles "Yeah, well, that makes the two of us." He says amused, head leaning on one hand that's propped up on his knee.

Nikki crawls over to take a seat next to him, leaning her head against the wall behind her and looking up. It's quite for a few moments.

"This isn't your first rodeo is it?" She asks curiously.

Brandt is now sitting with his knees drawn into his chest and arms cross over them. He turns to look at her. "What makes you say that?"

She turned her head to look at him and he couldn't help but notice the bangs that fell over the sides of her face. He restrained from the sudden urge to reach out and run his hand slowly across her cheek and tuck the stray hair behind her ear; away from her eyes, because he wanted to see that fire again. Just once more.

She smiled and he wondered for a moment if she heard his thoughts. "I don't know. You just… don't seem like the 'analyst' type." She state plainly.

When Nikki looked back over at him he seemed to be slightly amused by that comment. "Oh yeah, then what 'type' am I?"

Many answers swirled through her brain. _Field agent. Focused. Follow-the-rules. Considerate. _

_Sexy. _

She made sure to stop herself right there. Of all the things she came up with, she decided it was best not to answer. She just simply smirked and kept her mouth shut, just in case she gave a bad answer, or an inappropriate one.

A small smile lingered on his face as he gazed at her for a moment, but then it faded as he looks down again. "No. I was a field agent before." He replied.

Her assumption was right but she still looked at him confused wondering why he went from field agent to analyst.

"…What happened?" She asked reluctantly.

He looks distraught, perhaps still reeling over the death of the secretary. _Maybe I shouldn't have asked, _she wonders

For a minute she thinks he's not going to answer but then he turns his head and looks at her. "I- made a bad call." He answers dejectedly.

In that fleeting moment she saw the weight on his soul. She didn't know what to say. Within his eyes, some hidden pain remained lingering. He was in pieces and parts of him were missing.

He looks away for a moment then back up again. But this time the weight has disappeared from his eyes. Buried again. She couldn't see it anymore.

He shifts slightly in his spot, stretching one leg out in front of him. They remained silent for some time, however it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. It was satisfying almost. The silence was like some sort of shared understanding. She understood he had secrets. _We all have our secrets_. _It was an occupational hazard, _she thought_. _

"So how do you know Ethan?" Brandt asked unexpectedly.

"Oh I've known him for forever, we've been on a tonne of missions together. He's a great friend and partner." She said absentmindedly

"Oh. So you two-…" Brandt pointed out.

She didn't get it at first but then quickly realised what he was saying "What? No!" She cried, almost too loudly. She spun her head around to look back at the others at the end of the cabin to make sure she didn't wake anyone up, then lowered her voice. She shook her head smiling "No, it's nothing like that, Ethan's like my mentor. He practically trained me." She laughed at the absurdity of it.

"Right." Brandt exclaimed having got it all wrong. He gave her an apologetic look and she responded with a half smile. "-He has a wife." she clarified.

Brandt froze at that statement.

Nikki waits for him to respond but he's withdrawn, his eyes cast off into the distance.

Her smile fades and she looks at him perplexed "Brandt?"

"Huh?" He snaps out of his daze and she gives him a questionable look. "Sorry. I just- uh got distracted."

"A lot on your mind?" She asks sympathetically.

He rubs the back of his neck "You could say that."


	3. Chapter 3

As the team enters the airport, they split up to look less inconspicuous, lining up separately to get the tickets to Dubai. In the line, Nikki watches Ethan as he approaches the counter to the left of her. He's very relaxed, playing up the businessman act and lightly conversing with the ticket administrator. Joking, and laughing even.

On the other hand she glances over at Benji, a couple of people behind her, who's tapping his foot incessantly, causing her to smile a little.

After a while she turns around to look at Brandt in the line to the right of her. He's looking around aimlessly but then catches her staring and smiles slightly. She lightly smiles back at him then turns back around, looking straight ahead.

Benji however, was watching the little interaction the whole time and looks from Brandt to Nikki then back again suspiciously, with his face scrunched in a thinking manner, attempting to figure out what was going on between them.

Before you know it they were in Dubai. Once through customs Nikki walks out of departures to meet up with Brandt and Jane who were waiting for her.

"Where's Benji and Ethan?" she asks approaching them. "They're getting the car." Jane replies. She nods her head then follows them out of the Airport to stand outside near the taxi bay, waiting for Ethan and Benji to show up.

Barely 10 minutes have passed before a white jeep speeds into the bay and comes to a grinding halt right where they're standing. Ethan is at the wheel.

"Get in." he declares.

Benji is sitting in the passenger seat and slaps the side of the car door with his hand. "All aboard!" he announces with a cheerful smile.

Brandt and Nikki look at each other, smiling at Benji's stupidity then walk around to the rear of the car and hop in the back.

Jane opens up the passenger door, "Benji out." She motions with her hand.

"What? Why?" He asks surprised, not wanting to give up his place. It was the best seat in the house. _Or in this case, the car_, he joked to himself. He always sat in the front; well, he was usually the driver, but this time Ethan didn't let him drive. _Quite miffed about that,_ he thought.

"Because I said so." Jane says in an innocent tone while smiling at him.

Benji makes a face in confusion, as the reply made absolutely no sense to him. That was no reason to give up his seat. He looks around at his other teammates for backup but Ethan just shrugs smiling, while Brandt and Nikki chuckle in the back.

"What is this? Pick on Benji day? Oh that's right. That's everyday." Benji concludesas he glumly unbuckles his seat belt and slides out of the front. He defiantly wasn't going mess with Jane. So like a dog with its tail in-between its legs, Benji reluctantly makes his way to the rear of the car and gets in the back.

"You'll get over it." Jane says patting Benji's back as he walks past her. She then hops in the passenger seat and smiles to herself.

Ethan shakes his head chuckling and slips his shades on properly. "Everyone ready?" he asked casually, more specifically looking in the rear-view mirror at Benji and directing the comment at him.

Benji waves his right hand in the air dismissing him, and makes some inaudible mumbling noises in an attempt to display his annoyance.

Ethan smiles and instantly slams his foot down on the accelerator, taking off down the road at such a speed it causes Benji to jerk back and hit his head against the window lightly.

In no time, Ethan is speeding down the highway across the desert, dodging cars and swerving through traffic. Benji is on his computer next to Nikki while Will sits opposite her, hugging his bag to his chest.

"So even if we can double Wistrom and Moreau, how do we keep them in separate rooms while having them think that they're in the same room?" Will asked concerned.

"We give the hotel a facelift." Ethan answered, looking in the rear-view mirror. "Wistrom will think he's arriving at Moreau's suite, but, really, he'll be walking into our decoy room."

"Where I'll double Moreau." Jane announced.

"Downstairs, Benji will double Wistrom." Ethan said.

"Masks!" Benji said excitedly and winked.

"And meet with the real Moreau." Ethan said after Benji's interruption.

"Where I'll then get the diamonds off Jane and transfer the payment to Benji to give to the real Moreau." Nikki said with a smile, wondering if Will followed all that.

"And… uh… What am I doing?" Will said with a bit of a smile and shrugging his shoulders.

"You?" Benji spoke up with his sunglasses in his mouth. "You're the helper!" he established excitedly.

"Helper. That's great." Will said meekly, and stared out the window. He couldn't believe it. The plan was crazy.

"Okay, so to the extent I understand what you're talking about here…" Brandt said. "The Burj Khalifa, it's the tallest building in the world, and you want to alter it's infrastructure with the hoped of convincing two people that they've had a meeting, which actually really never happened. Right?" Brandt asked doubtfully and fundamentally pointing out how outrageous it was to everyone.

Nikki chuckled turning to him "That's- pretty much it."

Brandt sighed. "I don't know about you guys but isn't this kinda-"

"Impossible?" Ethan finished for him.

"More or less…" Brandt continued.

Nikki smiled at him. He underestimated what they were all capable of.

When Brandt turned to look back, he caught the fire burning within Nikki's eyes again, but this time it was an inferno. Her stare was hypnotising, her gaze determined and full of power. When he looked at her, it gave him strength. He couldn't tear his eyes away.

"It's still do-able" Nikki established, staring intensely at him trying to make him understand.

"Essentially really, ridiculously, hard-" Benji interrupted, not looking up from his computer.

"-But do-able." Nikki finished without missing a beat.

"Uh-" Jane said pointing ahead of the car.

Ethan swerves the car to the right and since he's speeding, the force tosses everyone in the back.

Will is drawn back and hits his head on the upper part of the window while Nikki is jerked forward harshly causing her to collide against Brandt and his bag.

She raised her hands instinctively to protect herself as she crashed into Will's taut chest as his hands automatically went to her shoulders to balance her.

Both subconsciously took note of the proximity of each other's face.

A flush began to rise into Nikki's neck. She forced herself to breathe.

"Sorry." She quickly mutters, then sits back in her spot.

She felt it then, how near he was. She felt his fingers and his hand, warm over her skin. The heat lingered even though he had already removed his hand.

She glances back at Benji to see if he noticed but he's too busy securing his computer and his gear after being thrown around. She smirks at him then looks to Will who's laughing.

"Camels." Ethan announced.

As soon as Nikki enters the lobby, one of the doormen wearing a yellow uniform greets her warmly and welcomes her to the Burji Khalifa. She simple smiles and follows on after Ethan, while the others instantly split up.

Ethan trails behind to go check in while Jane splits up to go get the dry cleaning. Benji, Brandt and Nikki wait in the lobby for Ethan to finish then they ride the elevator up to the room where they start to unpack everything to get ready for the met.

"ETA on dry cleaning." Ethan said into the comm.

"_On my way up."_ Jane replied.

"Okay, 34 minutes to door knock." Will said putting a countdown timer on his iPhone and placing it behind Benji's laptop.

"Wow…" Benji muttered looking at his laptop screen and clearing his throat. "Um. Okay, this is a slight wrinkle, but nothing to worry about."

Nikki looked up at him in alarm from behind the mask-making machine. _What did he mean by SLIGHT wrinkle._

"We're just going to have to go into the server room from the outside." Benji said apprehensively.

"What?" Ethan said coming out from the other room folding up the sleeves of his shirt.

"Well, the firewalls on this building's server are military grade." Benji said jabbing at his computer with his finger. "I mean, this would be a cinch if I could call Youssef back at headquarters, but Youssef doesn't exist anymore, and neither do we."

Will got up from his seat and looked at Benji's computer screen with concern.

"I could hack it, but it would take too long." Benji explained

"Then hardwire in." Ethan said determined.

"And there's four layers of next-gen security between us and the server room. There's no way we can get to it form inside." Benji said firmly.

"If we can't get to the server, we don't control the elevators, we don't control the security cameras. This operation is over before it even begins." Will said defeated walking away from them towards the couch.

"I'm telling you, we can get to it from outside." Benji proclaimed looking at Brandt

"'We'?" Ethan asked, trying to understand whom Benji was referring to, to get to the server…from the OUTSIDE.

"I'm… I'm on the computer." Benji stuttered not wanting to get involved.

Ethan looked to Nikki.

She cleared her throat looking away. "I'm setting up the masks." Nikki shrugged, pointing at the machine and deflecting the task to someone else.

Ethan looked over to Will.

"I'm just…" Will said motioning to Benji. "The helper."

Everyone looks to Ethan.

Ethan sighed in defeat and turned his head sharply at the window, walking over to it and looking at the height. "What floor is it on?" He asked Benji.

"Uh, a hundred and thirty." Benji answered.

"A HUNDRED and thirty?" Ethan asked flabbergasted. _You've got to be kidding me, _he thought. _From outside? There had to be another way._

"Vent ducts." Ethan asked suddenly.

"Pressure sensitive." Benji told him.

"Not enough time." Will said.

"Elevator shaft." Ethan asked.

"Infrared sensors." Benji said.

"Not enough time." Will taunt.

"How am I supposed to do this?" Ethan asked himself while staring up at the building. At that Benji brought out some gloves and tossed one of them at the window, which sticks to it while emitting a high-pitched noise.


	4. Chapter 4

Benji started to cut the window out with the laser gun and Will brought out some glass suction cups. He chuckles one to Nikki and she places it on the left side of the window while he places his on the right.

"God damn it!" Benji whispers when the laser backfires a bit on him.

Once Benji finishes cutting out the window Nikki helped Brandt lift it out from its spot. When it's out from its frame she holds it while Benji and Brandt position themselves at either end of the pane of glass.

Once they've gotten hold of it she lets go to leave the heavy lifting for the guys.

"Oh, that's high." Benji said as he and Will were moving the windowpane to the other side of the room.

Nikki holds up the gloves to Ethan and give him an encouraging smile. "You've got this."

He exhales suddenly. "Yeah I hope so." He answered doubtfully as he strapped a glove on. She helps Ethan strap on the other remaining glove and then lets Benji take over.

She takes a seat next to Brandt and watches him work on the computer. He's got an exterior schematic of the Burj Khalifa up onscreen and is checking the location of the server room from their own location.

"Easiest way up?" She asks, pointing to the screen and tracing the path up with her finger.

"Yeah. Looks that way." Brandt agreed.

Benji presses the buttons on the sides of the gloves and they emit a charging like sound. "Okay, now remember, it's a rolling off motion that disengages the bond." He said showing him the motion. "When the meter is blue, that's full adhesion. Easy way to remember, blue is glue." Benji told him.

"And when it's red?" Ethan asks.

"Dead." Benji said plain and simply.

Nikki and Brandt both glanced up at that. But then looked back down at the computer screen. Keeping their heads down low before Ethan makes one of them climb out on the side of the building.

"Here's your cutter, okay?" Benji said showing it to him. "And your server interface." He said, holding up the other. "Both going back here. One, two." He said putting it in the back of the belt around Ethan's waist.

"Okay, Ethan, the hotel server is eleven stories up and seven units over." Will told him motioning with his hand. "Okay? Comm check." He said into the walkie-talkie.

"Yeah." Ethan said bringing his hand up to his ear. "Copy."

"So…" Benji said making fists and moving them slightly back and forth encouragingly towards the window. He was going to say a few reassuring words but he couldn't think of any. I mean what do you say to someone who's about to climb up the side of the tallest building in the world. _Good luck?_ Benji thought.

Nikki stared up at Ethan from the couch waiting for him to move. He was still looking at his gloves but he didn't exactly see them. His mind was somewhere else.

"Ethan?" she called, ducking her head a bit to meet his gaze to see if he was still…well, functioning.

He lowered his hands to his side but still stayed in his spot.

"It's 26 minutes to door knock." Will told Ethan reluctantly, not trying to pressure him or anything.

Ethan nodded. "Yeah." He replied unenthusiastically and started off towards the window.

Benji was about to slap Ethan on the shoulder encouragingly, but thinks better of it, and just balls his fist in the air in front of him signalling his support.

Ethan walks up to the ledge and looks down, scanning the entire city. He then steps out, slowly and smoothly swinging himself to the outside of the building.

He tests out the gloves on the window twice, and once satisfied he starts making his way out onto the side of the building.

Nikki heart is racing even though she's only watching. Her body is tense just like everyone else's in the room and she holds her breath as Ethan steps right outside against the window.

When Ethan lunges for the window straight above him, Benji flinches and bites his nails nervously.

As soon as Ethan disappears Benji goes to look at the progress of the mask maker knowing that there's nothing he could do for him now. It was all on Ethan at this point.

"25 minutes to door knock." Will said into the comm.

Nikki is sitting next to Brandt on the couch monitoring the security cams with him. But she can't really focus because her mind keeps drifting back to Ethan, wondering how far up he is; If he can even make it up to the server in time, let alone back down again to get ready for the meet.

She knew Brandt held the same worries because he would announce the remaining time to everyone, including Ethan, every minute or so.

There was nothing going on on the cam, so she looks up and stares out the window for a moment, to clear her mind.

In the distance something catches her eye, its burly and looks like an approaching cloud. _It must be my eyes playing tricks in this heat_, she thought. After gazing at it for a few moments she realises its very much real so she stands up and walks over to the window trying to get a better view.

Brandt glances up from the computer at her, wondering why she stood up. He then follows her eye line to look at whatever she's staring at.

"What the hell is that?" He asks looking out the window. Brandt gets up from his spot and stands next to Nikki watching the phenomenon.

"_Yeah, what the hell is that?"_ Ethan asked.

Benji approaches them from behind; getting a good look at the thing everyone was so concerned about.

"It's a sandstorm." Nikki mutters to everyone.

Benji stares at it amazed, and then grabbing his tie he speaks into the mic. "It's a long way off, Ethan." Benji said into the comm. "Shouldn't be a problem."

Nikki turned around to look at Benji. "Shouldn't?" she asked questionably giving him a look.

He just shrugs at her meekly.

"24 minutes to door knock." Will said into the comm.

Nikki hears the door closing behind her and turns around. Jane walked in with the dry cleaning and puts it down on the back of the couch. "Where's Ethan?" She asked.

They all turn around to look at her. Benji simply pointed up and outside.

"You've got to be kidding me." She said surprised. She'd only just left them for a couple of minutes and they've already got Ethan doing something ridiculous.

Nikki is monitoring the mask-maker's progress when she suddenly hears Ethan shout out in distress over the comm.

"You ok over there?" She asks concerned.

She didn't get a reply at first; instead she just heard his heavy breathing on the other end.

"_Yup! Just fin_e!" She finally heard him shout over the comm. _Probably over the wind, _she thought.

"23 minutes to door knock." Will said suddenly pacing the room. Benji fiddled with his gadget while Jane walked over to Nikki and observed the mask maker.

"_I'm at server level." _Ethan said.

Nikki walked over and sat in the armchair in front of the computer. She started tapping on the keys and then brought up the connection statuses for the server.

Will stopped pacing and leaned against the couch checking his watch and then looking at the laptop screen.

Nikki heard another shout from Ethan over the intercom.

"22 minutes to door knock." Will said looking at the countdown.

She looked at him from the corner of her eye.

"_The countdown is not helping_." Ethan said annoyed.

Jane glared over at Will accusingly. He was really getting on her nerves.

"I'm just saying." He remarked.

"_I'm in." _Ethan said after a while.

_Thank god,_ Nikki thought, quickly getting out of the armchair and allowing Benji to sit down in it.

"That's great, Ethan. You're halfway home." Benji said. He rocked back and forth in the armchair anxiously waiting for the blocked signs to turn green

"_Located server." _Ethan said. _"Please tell me we're online."_

"All right, we're live." Benji said. "Okay, I now have control of the elevators and the security cameras."

"Time to redecorate." Jane said to Benji tossing him a converter machine.

He caught it then quickly turned to Nikki "Okay you drive." Benji said pointing to her and then pointed to Will. "And you look out for Wistrom and Moreau."

Nikki sits down at the computer while Will stands beside her with folded arms. Watching the camera's, Nikki spots a familiar figure walk past.

"Is that-" She starts, taking a closer look at the cameras but the figure walks past out of view. She scans the other cameras waiting for them to show up again.

The person comes back into the camera's view again in the elevator. Brandt takes a closer look. "Moreau is at the elevators ahead of schedule." He said into the comm.

Nikki tapped away on the computer, monitoring which level Moreau was currently on.

"You guys have to pick it up." Nikki said into the comm to everyone.

"_We can't open this door, can we?" _Ethan asked on the other end of the line.

For a second Will wondered what door he was talking about then he realised it was the elevator door. "The door? No." Will told him.

Nikki looked at the time on the computer. _It's taken Ethan about 15 minutes to get up to the server room. How the hell is he going to get back down in time?_ She thought worryingly.

"Ethan, you gotta get down here now." Nikki warned him. He didn't respond. "Ethan! Is there a problem?"

"Ethan?" Will asked looking out the window but not seeing him.

Jane walks through the door in that instant and he turns around. "We're not going to make it." Will announced.

"We have to make it." Jane said and started taking off her jacket. She scanned the room and found that a certain someone still wasn't present. "Where's Ethan?" she asked, looking out the window.

There was a crash heard over the comm making Nikki stand up and walk over to the window. Outside she saw that Ethan was hanging from some sort of rope around his waist, just meters away from them.

"Your line's not long enough!" Will yelled to him.

"No shit!" Ethan yelled back frustrated.

"How the hell are we going to pull him in here?" Nikki quietly muttered to no one in particular.

Brandt hears her comment and glances back at her then turns to look back out the window. _I wish I knew,_ Brandt thought, helplessly staring out at Ethan.

Ethan suddenly starts running away from them on the side of the building and then instantly pushes himself from the window, jumping backwards. His legs were perfectly poised out for balance and using the momentum of his body he swings around, heading straight for the open window.

_He's not gonna-? Oh shit he is. _Brandt holds out his hand gesturing for Nikki to stay back and she moves out of the way, knowing exactly what Ethan was going to do.

He releases his line and flug himself towards the window, but he doesn't make it and hits his head off of the top of the window frame.

Will immediately grabs onto Ethan's ankle causing him to fall forward, straight out the window. However both Nikki and Jane instantly grab Brandt's legs, stopping him from slipping out any further.

Brandt's upper body is hanging out the window while Jane and Nikki hold onto Will by each leg. Jane's is gripping onto the rug and Nikki is grasping the underside of the couch, both of them desperately trying to make sure nobody falls 119 stories to their death.

Jane and Nikki struggle to hold on.

"Get your ass's in here!" Nikki shouts at the two of them, dangling out the window.

Ethan slowly reaches his hands up to Will and starts climbing up and over him, then once he and Will were both safely inside, everyone all collapses down onto the floor, exhausted and pumped full of adrenaline over the near death experience.

Benji then walks into the room a few seconds later huffing and laughing at himself. "That was not easy, but I did it." He said and saw everyone on the ground by the window. "What'd I miss?"

Everyone just looks up and glares at him.


	5. Chapter 5

Ethan, Benji and Jane start getting ready while Nikki goes over to Will so she can help him with his contact lens.

She steps close to him holding the contact lens on the tip of her finger.

"The lens might be a little uncomfortable." She said putting it in his left eye, causing him to blink a couple of times, trying to get used to it. "It captures images and transmits them to the printer in the briefcase."

"Aww." Will groaned trying to get used to the weird feeling.

"All right?" She asked him.

"Mhmm. I can't see out of one eye, but I'm fine." He said.

She turns around and grabs a piece of paper from the table. "Blink twice to activate the shutter." she told him, holding up the paper. "Notice the numbers are in order?" she said and he blinked twice, capturing the image.

She turned and grabbed the new piece of paper that had just come from the brief case and grabbed it. "A perfect copy. But the numbers are scrambled." She said to Will, who had appeared closely behind her.

Brandt walked closer to her and though he wasn't touching her, she felt the pressure of his presence. His presence suddenly makes her self-conscious as she held the papers side by side. His body is so close to her back it makes her tense. "So then-" He starts, and she instinctively turns her head to look at him.

Bad move.

His face is practically right next to hers, and he too had also turned to face her at the exact same time.

Their faces were now just mere inches apart. The air around them suddenly became full of tension.

Their gazes meet and she pauses for a moment, eyes flickering nervously, taking in his face. His eyes. His mouth.

They both swallowed hard

Then she quickly drops her gaze as if she realised suddenly that she was doing something she shouldn't.

He clears his throat and looks away from her, continuing. "So do I have to hold the codes at a certain distance or anything?" he asked clarifying.

She walked over to the gear and packed it up haphazardly lost in her own thoughts. It took a second for her to realize what just happened and what Brandt was talking about.

"It's self adjusting so just look at it like you would normally read a paper" She said turning to him.

"Right of course" He said rubbing under his eye trying to relieve the discomfort.

Nikki exhaled. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." He replied apprehensively.

She gave him a reassuring smile.

"Masks?" Ethan said as he came out from the other room having gotten dressed.

"60 seconds." Benji answered. "You sure I shouldn't wear a mask? You know, 'cause I'm not exactly Omar Sharif. I'll play it French. This is your tracking device." He said giving Ethan a phone. "And this is what you're tracking." Benji said handing him some paper.

"The paper clip?" Ethan asked.

"No, it's the paper. It's in the briefcase. It's coated with isotopes, which give off a unique… It just means that you can track the documents even if they switch briefcases." Benji told him.

"Range?" Ethan asked.

"Not that good. It's, like, half a mile." Benji said. "Safest thing to do would be not let Wistrom out of your sight. Is that Wistrom?" Benji asked looking down at the computer.

Ethan paused to look at the screen, and then picked up the computer to get a better look at something he noticed. "Who's that with him?" Ethan asked Benji.

"I don't know. We don't have an uplink, so there's no facial recognition." Benji said as Ethan took the computer to Will.

"Who's that with him?" Ethan asked again.

Will looked at it for a second before he answered. "That's Leonid Lisenker. Polish-born cryptographer. He redesigned Russia's nuclear security after the Cold War."

"Well he doesn't exactly look like one of his bodyguards." Nikki said dryly.

"He's here to authenticate the launch codes." Jane realised breathlessly.

"Yes, he is. We are blown." Brandt said to her.

"No, we're not blown." Ethan said.

"Well, we will be as soon as he sees the counterfeit launch codes." Will contradicted him.

"We're not blown." Ethan said again firmly.

"He's in the elevator." Benji called from his seat.

"Delay them." Ethan ordered. "Benji, how long would it take you to reprogram the case?"

"A couple of seconds. What for though?" Benji asked.

Nikki sat beside Will, watching Ethan pace the room, his mind whirling with ideas. "To make an exact copy of the launch codes." Ethan said. At this everyone looked at Ethan disbelievingly. Will's heads snapped up.

"What?" Jane asked.

"Ethan-" Nikki started

"You can't do that." Brandt said.

"Wistrom's on 22!" Benji shouted.

"Slow him down." Ethan commanded.

"I'll do what I can." Benji said.

"Wait, wait." Will said standing up. "Ethan, hang on now! Hang on. Just a second. You're talking about handing over active nuclear launch codes to Wistrom?" Will said angrily stressing the word "active".

"Yes. Reprogram the case." Ethan said pointing at it.

"Listen… Stop! Stop!" Will said as Benji reached for the case. "Just listen to what you're saying." He said with his hands raised. "You're fixating. You're not thinking clearly."

Ethan went for the case but Brandt quickly grabbed it and held it towards the window. Nikki instantly stood up.

"It's not going to happen. I won't let it!" Will said holding it away from Ethan.

"Will." Nikki called warningly, hand raised to stop him and to calm him down, hoping he wasn't going to throw the codes out the window.

He looked to her then to Ethan. Everyone was on edge.

"33 and climbing!" Benji said.

"Will." Ethan said in an firm but understanding tone. "Use your head now. The mission is not the codes, the mission is Hendricks."

"Then just let it play out. Give him bad codes. Neutralize him." Will said to everyone, mainly Ethan.

"You know that won't do it." Ethan said. "Failure to a terrorist is just a rehearsal for success."

"41!" Benji shouted.

"We lose Hendricks today, he shows up somewhere else tomorrow. He finds another way. With no IMF to stop him. No. It's now or never. Now, Brandt, give me the case." Ethan said trying to reason with him.

"Nothing can be left to chance. You said that." Will said moving towards the window. Nikki took a step forward, along with Jane.

"You're the analyst." Ethan told him. "Now, tell me there's not another way for Hendricks to get those codes."

"50!" Benji shouted.

"You tell me that this is his only avenue, right here, right now, today." Ethan said. "You tell me that, I'll walk away."

A sudden jamming noise came from the mask-making machine followed by a beep giving everyone a shock. Everyone looked at it and Nikki quickly walked around the table to see what happened.

_Everything was a mess_, and she wasn't just talking about the prosthetic masks.

Nikki checked the laser-cutters and the spray can. The entire thing had jammed and the paint had exploded all over the masks. There was no way to retrieve them in time.

She signed in defeat just looking at Jane who had come over to check on it too. She looked at the masks then to Nikki. The shit has really hit the fan and right now, they were being bombarded by it.

They both looked up to everyone and Jane shook her head.

"We go without." Ethan said.

"Without masks?" Benji asked astonished.

"Jane needs to go." Ethan signalled.

"Ethan." Jane said stepping forward.

"We have no choice." He told her.

"Ethan, you'd be walking in on Moreau unarmed." Nikki told him aggravated, moving around from the machine confronting him. "Face-first. Literally." She pointed out.

"How do we know they've met?" He asked her.

"How do we know they haven't?" She questioned, contradicting him.

"Doesn't matter!" Will shouted. "Damn it." He said quietly. "We have no choice." He handed the case over to Ethan.

He took it and threw it to Benji, who started the reprogramming.

Everyone spurred into action. Nikki chucked the necessary gear into one of the bags and quickly handed it off to Jane.

Nikki then grabbed Brandt's jacket off the couch and chucked it at him across the room. He caught it mid-air and slipped it on.

She turned to Benji. "Done?" She asked eagerly

"Just a second…" he sang pressing a few buttons. "Ok done!"

Nikki quickly took the case off him and pointed towards the waiter uniform. "Suit up."

Ethan, Jane, and Will left minutes later. Nikki stayed with Benji helping to fill up the prosthetic arm while he put on the uniform. As she was putting the finishing touches on the arm she listened intently to everyone over the comm.

"_Goggles." _She heard Will say. _"What if they have met?"_

"_Come in." _Jane said.

"_Which one of you is Wistrom?" _Moreau said.

"_I am." _Ethan said.

"_Which one of you is Wistrom?" _Jane repeated.

"_I am." _Wistrom said. _"I admire your work."_

Benji stood patiently in front of Nikki while she quickly fixed the fake arm to his side, making sure you couldn't see his actual arm underneath.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" He asked her nervously as she buttoned up the front collar of his uniform.

Nikki glanced at him unsure, then looked back down; concentrating on making sure they couldn't see past his disguise. "It'll work. You'll be fine."

Benji exhaled lightly as she took a step back to see if anything looked out of place. "And if it doesn't. well-" Benji's head instantly snapped up, looking at her terrified. She slapped him on the shoulder and gave it a firm grasp. "-That's your arse." Nikki answered jokingly. Benji's breathing increased. "But I like my arse."

A small laugh escaped Nikki's mouth. "Relax. I've got your back." She smiled at him.

"And my arse?" Benji asked both jokingly and nervously. Nikki laughed again. "And your arse."

Benji nodded and took a quick look in the mirror. "Right." He exhaled once and then loosened his collar slightly with his free hand.

"Ok you're done. Go." She said to Benji opening the door for him. He grabbed the trolley with one hand and pushed it out the door.

Humour did always seem to calm Benji down.


	6. Chapter 6

"_Sit."_ Nikki heard Moreau say over the comm.

"_Where are my codes?"_ Ethan asked.

"_Where are my diamonds?"_ Moreau countered.

"Benji's on the move." Nikki said into the walkie-talkie.

"_Close by." _Ethan replied.

Nikki watched Benji get into the elevator from the computer, on his way to Jane's room.

"_You have my payment?"_ Jane asked.

"_When I see the codes." _Wistrom said.

"_I have arrived at Jane's room." _Benji said and knocked on the door.

"_Not to worry. Come in! I thought we could have tea." _Jane said.

"_Madamoiselle, Monsieur." _Benji said.

"_No diamonds, no codes."_ Moreau said.

"_No codes, no diamonds." _Ethan said.

"_Kill this one." _Moreau said.

Nikki held her breath and paced across the room, walkie-talkie tightly grasped in her hand. She was basically crushing the thing.

She would glance at the elevator security cams occasionally, even though she couldn't see anything.

"_We didn't come alone. That hallway out there is a kill-box." _Ethan said.

"_You know who we work for."_ Will said.

"_We come back with the codes, or we don't come back."_ Ethan said.

"_How good is your backup?" _Moreau asked.

"_The best." _Will said.

Moreau laughed amused. "_I've killed the best."_

Nikki's grip on the walkie-talkie tightened. She caught the delight in Moreau voice and knew Jane would be hearing the exact same thing.

"_Do you care for some sugar?" _Benji asked.

"_Enough. Let's get this done."_ Ethan said._ "You want payment, I want guarantees. When he's authenticated the codes, I'll make the call and you get your diamonds. That or we all go home in buckets. Nobody leaves this hotel alive."_

"_Get the papers." _Moreau said.

"_Is there a problem?"_ Jane asked.

"_It's locked." _Wistrom said.

"_Ah_, _Forgive men. There must be a key. One moment, huh?" _Jane said.

"_Monsieur." _Nikki heard Benji say. A few seconds later "_Nikki. I have the diamonds_." Benji said over the comm once he was out of the room. She sighed with relief.

"_My mistake. It is a combination, not a key."_ Jane said.

"_You tell me the numbers." _Wistrom said.

"_They're good." _Will said, signalling to Jane that he's finished replicating the codes.

"Benji you have to get down there now, Brandt's finished copying the codes." Nikki said urgently.

"Got it." He answered back.

"_Zero. Zero. Zero." _Jane said.

"_Come on, come on, come on." _Nikki heard Benji mumble over the comm.

There was silence for a few minutes, and she was starting to worry if anything had gone wrong.

"Payment delivered" Nikki heard Benji whisper over the line.

She exhaled relieved and in less than a minute Benji comes through the door, causing her to stand. He starts pulling off his uniform. "How we doing?"

"We aren't out of the ditch yet." She said, tapping the walkie-talkie against her arm.

"_It was a pleasure doing business with…"_ Jane started. _"Wistrom has the launch codes. He's on the move."_

Nikki look towards the closed door and knew he was just outside the hallway. Turning back to the computer she sees Wistrom get in the elevator. _Wait where was-_

"Ahhh!" Benji cries as he tugged the sleeve with the fake arm too hard causing her to look up at him.

"_It was a pleasure doing business with you." _Moreau said calmly. There was a pause.

**_"Kill him!"_**

There was a crash on the end of the line, and sounds of fighting. Nikki sprung up from the chair and grabbed her gun.

"_Moreau's on the move!"_ Ethan said.

Nikki cocked it back and stuffed it in her back belt. "Where are you going?!" Benji asked confused as he was still trying to yank off his uniform.

"_I've got her."_ Jane said.

"_Jane?"_ Ethan called._ "She's an asset! I need. Her. alive!"_ Ethan shouted over the line.

Nikki chucked Benji the walkie-talkie. "Stay here." she ordered and opened the door, only to see Jane running down the hallway.

Jane glimpsed at her for a second and she saw the fury burning in her eyes as she ran past.

_"Acknowledge!" _Ethan shouted.

"Jane!" Nikki yelled warningly, as she sprinted off towards the stairwell pushing open the door. "_Acknowledg_e!"

"Jane stop!" Nikki cried as she ran after her. _She was going to rip Moreau to pieces. _

Nikki sprinted through the stairwell door and as she was running down the stairs she suddenly heard a gunshot. She pulled out her gun and shoved open the door, holding it up steadily.

She hears cries down the hallway and swiftly made her way towards it. Suddenly Jane and Moreau tumble into view, with Jane on top of her strangling her.

Nikki holds up her gun, aiming steadily, but Jane's in the way.

"Jane!" She yells at her, lowering her weapon and moving closer towards them.

Jane is kicked off and Moreau stands up.

Nikki quickly raises her gun again but Moreau kicks it from her hands and it slides a few meters to the side.

She then tries to kick Nikki in the temple, however Nikki is faster and uses her left arm to block the kick. The force of the kick pushes Nikki up against the hallway's wall and Moreau leaps towards her, arm's outstretched.

In retaliation, Nikki swings her fist into the side of Monroe's face and brings her leg up to kick her in the torso; pushing her back and allowing Jane to grab her from behind, by the neck, trying to restrain her.

They struggle for a bit then in an attempt to get Jane off her back, Moreau slams Jane on the wall behind her. Moreau pulls Jane over her shoulder, throwing her to the ground and then spots Nikki's fallen gun right in front of her.

Nikki sees it too and instantly sprints towards her. _Oh no you don't._

As Moreau reaches down to grab it, Nikki drops to the floor and slides towards her. Moreau picks up the gun but as soon as she lifts her head, it's meet by the powerful kick of Nikki's foot.

She instantly falls back and slams herself into the wall, the gun slipping from her hands.

Swiftly, Nikki does a kip-up from the floor into a standing position and punches her in the face and torso a couple of times as she tries to recover. Moreau slams her fist into Nikki's side then kicks her away, but Nikki's instantly replaced by Jane; who, with an angry shout, tackles Moreau to the floor.

Nikki retrieves her gun and points it steadily at Moreau just as she high-kicks Jane to the ground. "Don't move!" she cries with her finger firmly on the trigger. With all that fighting she almost forgot Moreau was an asset. Almost.

Moreau spots her own gun on the floor and makes a sight movement towards it, however it's instantly followed by a gunshot.

Nikki had fired a warning shot, just inches from Moreau's face, showing her that she means business. And that she was pissed.

Moreau turns and glares at her. Her attention fully focused on Nikki for the moment, totally unaware that Jane was getting up.

Jane immediately took the opportunity to punch her right in the face, as hard as she could, with Moreau only able to glimpse at Jane striding towards her at the last second before she went down. Nikki swiftly moves up to her and points the gun to her temple.

"Move, and the next one goes through your head." Nikki warns.

"You wouldn't kill me." Moreau spat.

"You're right. I wouldn't. But… I don't know about her." Nikki retorted, motioning toward Jane. Nikki moves aside and lets her handle it from there.

Jane grabs Moreau and pulls her hands forcefully behind her back making her stand.

"Gun." She demands holding her hand out to Nikki.

"You're not gonna shoot her in the head or anything?" She asked jokingly, handing her gun over.

"Well that depends." she answered taking the gun and pointing it right into Moreau's back, digging the barrel into her side.

"Don't even think of trying anything." Jane hissed into her ear.

Nikki takes Moreau's gun from the floor and follows Jane back to the room.


	7. Chapter 7

The door banged open and Moreau appeared in the doorway causing Benji to jump up.

"Jesus!" Benji cried.

Jane shoved Moreau forwards and came in behind her with the gun trained on her. She shoved her some more as Nikki walked through the door behind her, closing it.

Jane forced Moreau into the chair pushing her down harshly. "Sit down!" Jane told her and gave the gun to Benji. "Watch her."

"Why me?" He studdered.

"Because if I do, I'll kill her." Jane said and walked into the next room.

Benji gave Nikki a look.

"Just give her some time." She said looking from Benji to the room.

_"Nikki."_ she all of a sudden hears Brandt call from the line.

"Go for Nikki" She answers.

_"I've got Leonid by the elevator, he's been shot." _Brandt tells her.

"What?" She exclaims shocked. She quickly makes her way towards the door. _We were right there. He was right there. And we didn't even notice. _

Benji looks up at Nikki as she opened the door.

"What happened?" He called to her.

She doesn't answer as the door shuts behind her.

As soon as the door shuts Moreau takes the opportunity to make her move. During Benji's slight distraction Moreau manages to high kick him in the temple knocking him out.

Out in the hallway Nikki sees Brandt kneeling in the corner and just out of view, lays Leonid. She rushes to his side.

"Oh my god." She exhales looking at Leonid's wounds. Two shots to the chest.

She helps Brandt place pressure on the bullet wounds. There was just so much blood.

"I was right there." She exclaims angrily, keeping pressure on his wounds. "I was right there, I could have helped him."

Brandt turns to look at her. Leonid's breathing was laboured. His eyes were rolling back.

"No. Leonid look at me, stay with me." Nikki said supporting his head with the palm of my hand. He was now taking strenuous gasps.

"Hey, hey. Stay with us. Stay with us." Brandt said to Leonid.

His breathing suddenly became shallow and on his last breath he closed his eyes and his head lolled to the side.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." Brandt said as Leonid died.

Now all Nikki could hear was her own heavy breathing. She took her hands from his chest and just stared at them. Covered in blood.

Suddenly they both hear a gunshot go off from the room and their heads snap up.

They both look at each other and more shots go off. Brandt and Nikki jump up from the ground and grab their guns. Aiming them steadily at the door.

Brandt is on the right side while Nikki covers the left. He nods to her and she kicks open the door. Aiming their guns into the room.

Jane and Moreau had gotten up against the glass, with the gun still in the air.

Brandt and Nikki made their way across the room, their guns still trained on Moreau. Nikki glanced down at Benji knocked out on the floor and made her way towards him.

She looked from the fight to the window. Jane and Moreau were dangerously close to it.

"Jane. No!" Brandt shouted.

Before she knew it Moreau ended up right in front of the open frame. She fired her gun, but missed, causing Jane to instinctively kick her. Straight out the window.

Nikki stood there shocked. _What had she done?_

Jane got off of the ground and just stood there facing Nikki and Will. Nikki quickly shakes Benji awake and he sits up holding his head.

Nikki then looks back up at Jane and then to Brandt. He exhaled suddenly like he forgot to breathe. He was in a daze; He just couldn't believe what she'd just done.


	8. Chapter 8

The team had to leave the hotel. They knew Ethan would find them at the safe house soon after, like he said if anything should go wrong. _Well things had gone wrong. And it was time to leave. _

Not a word was spoken as they packed up their gear and hoped in the elevator. Once they were down in the lobby the team walked quickly towards the escalator.

Brandt was in front of everyone, and just as he approaches the escalator he abruptly stops and pushes everyone back around the corner.

"What the hell are you doing?" Benji asked.

"Russians." He said, glancing down at the bottom of the escalators.

"What? Where?" Benji asks curiously following Brandt's eye line down towards the bottom of the escalators. Jane and Nikki follow suit risking a glance, but don't see anything.

"How do you know its them?" Benji questioned.

Everyone scans the ground floor and spot two men, bloodied and bruised, standing in the middle of the foyer talking and looking around. _Oh yup, it was them alright._

"Get back!" Brandt commanded pulling them back from the edge and out of sight from the Russians.

"Ok. So they are kind of Russian-looking." Benji remarked sceptically.

"How the hell did they know we were here?" Nikki exclaimed.

Jane looked at Benji who caught her glance. "Well don't look at me!" he said raising his hands in the air innocently.

Brandt shook his head. "I don't know but we have to get out of here. Now."

Jane and Benji headed off separately first. It would be less inconspicuous. Brandt and Nikki watched from a distance as Benji walked straight through the revolving doors towards the valet to collect the Jeep from them.

Nikki breathed a sigh of relief. Both Benji and Jane walked past the Russians without being noticed, so Brandt headed off as soon as they saw that the car had arrived. She shadowed a couple of meters behind him.

It was a tense moment as Brandt walked across the foyer. Nikki remained as calm as possible and tried to blend in with the crowd.

The Russians we're scanning the entire floor. In fact one of them, with the longish hair actually looked at her face as Nikki came down the escalator but then turned away and continued looking around. She exhaled with relief. They were only looking for people that stood out, anything odd.

Brandt had made it to the revolving doors and was already outside with the others. He looked back at Nikki. She was just approaching the main entrance when she looked at one of the doormen who smiled at her.

"Leaving so soon?" He asked loudly. It was the same one that greeted her at the beginning.

She froze inside. Impulsively, she turn around to check if the Russians noticed but they weren't there anymore.

As she turns back around she almost crashes into two large men standing right in front of her, blocking her way. It was the Russians.

She stared at Brandt outside who looks like he's about to intervene but she gives him a look that stops him. For a moment she considers taking them out, but then she re-composes herself and simply smiles back at them. "Can I help you?" She asks nicely putting on a façade.

The one with the short hair and receding hairline saw right through her. "Leaving so soon?" he repeated again in a heavy Russian accent. Nikki assumed he's the leader. She glances down at his gun beneath his jacket. He was reaching for it.

His partner, the one with the darker jacket and longer hair, grabbed her wrist.

She instantly wrenches her hand out of his grasp and kicks one of his knees to the right. As he falls she jerks her knee up to his face, instantly knocking him out.

A few cries ring out around her.

Nikki quickly grabs the other guy's hand just as he's got the gun out. His grip on the handgun is tight so she pulls his hand towards her back. He falls with the movement and she uses the edge of her palm to strike him right in the nose, breaking it. This causes him to let go of the gun and stumble back holding his face. He quickly recovers and attacks her again. She swiftly whirls her leg up, connecting her right foot to the side of his temple and he drops to the floor.

Will runs up to her and looks down at the guys she just took out. He looks back up "You ok?"

"Yeah." She exhales, replying instinctively.

"Let's go." Brandt says, grabbing her hand and running out the door.

They both quickly hop into the back of the white Jeep and Benji takes off.


	9. Chapter 9

They all pull up to a side street close to where the safe house is and get out of the car. Benji is the first one out and quickly walks off down an alleyway with his stuff. Everyone follows him and soon enough they all arrive at the shabby safe house.

Ethan was gone for a couple hours and when he got back he tells everyone that the Russians had followed and that Wistrom was not Wistrom but Hendricks doubling as him.

_We had a few stories of our own_. Benji was the first to start "Ethan, there's something we have to tell you…"

Ethan looks at all of them puzzled. He didn't say anything; He was all ears.

"Moreau's dead." Nikki said.

"Jane kicked her out the window." Brandt finished. Receiving a death glare from Jane.

"What?!" Ethan exclaimed turning his head to the side slightly as if he didn't hear it properly.

Nobody answered after that. They all just stared at him wondering what he was going to do next.

Ethan stood there for a moment letting the information sink in, and then he simply turned and walked towards the bathroom, shutting the door.

Ethan had been in the bathroom for a while and that's when the arguing started.

"Now, what happened with Moreau, Jane?" Will asked leaning his arms against the chair in front of him.

"She couldn't help us with Hendricks." She defended herself as she washed her neck.

"So let's throw her off the building!" Will shouted.

Jane turned around. "I didn't throw her."

"Let's throw her off the building!" Will shouted again. "She was not the mission, Jane!" He shouted as he slammed his fist into the table causing Benji to jump up in fright and causing Nikki to flinch. "The mission was to track the file back to Hendricks, who is in the wind with nuclear launch codes!"

Jane and Will were now face to face.

"Maybe you didn't notice the gun she had pointed at me." Jane accused.

Will laughed sarcastically. "Yeah, like you didn't notice the open window, or that we're about a mile up in the air!"

"It was an instinctive move." Jane defended. Nikki rubbed her temple, trying to get away from the headache that was her team.

"It doesn't matter!" Will yelled. "We're talking about a nuclear war. The asset is more important than you."

"Where do you get off telling me how well I executed it?" Jane accused. "We inherited you."

Nikki groaned from where she was sitting, frustration building within her.

"You're just a bureaucrat!" Jane yelled. "You think I need you to tell me what the mission is?"

"Apparently so." Brandt retorted.

"Really?! You need to learn how to do your mission! How about that!" Jane cried.

"Look. Guys, you need to calm down." Nikki finally said, not being able to take it anymore.

"Don't tell me to calm down Nikki!" Jane shouted to me. "This might not have even happened if you had set up the masks properly!"

Nikki scowled at her disbelievingly. "Oh so this is MY fault now!"

"Hey don't go blaming this on her, everything was fine even without the masks!" Brandt defended

"Shut up Brandt!" Jane yelled at him

Nikki stood up walking towards her. "Maybe if I didn't have to handle your problems, we would have noticed Leonid in the corner."

"I didn't ask for your help!" Jane countered.

"I was making sure you didn't kill her! But even then you still manage to do just that!" Nikki said pointing to the ground.

Jane ignored her and walked towards Benji. "And how the hell did the Russians find us?" She said going after Benji.

"What are you asking me for?" Benji said calmly.

"Because you're communications!" Jane yelled slamming down his laptop. "You're in charge of covering our tracks."

"Whoa! Hey! Leave Benji out of this! He didn't do anything!" Nikki cried.

"Exactly. He didn't do anything." Jane indicated, referring to the Russians tracking us down.

"I'm sorry are you-" Benji started.

"You cannot afford to make mistakes like that now, Benji." Will said. "You're not a technician anymore. You're a field agent."

"And you're just an 'analyst'." Ethan said coming out of the bathroom and turning on Brandt. "Right?! Right?!"

Everyone paused. Brandt stared at Ethan confused.

"Who are you really, Brandt?" Ethan asked infuriated.

Brandt glimpses at Nikki for a moment and she stare back at him confused. "What are you asking?" Will questioned.

"What am I asking?" Ethan said to himself as he stared up at the roof. "Let me see if I can put it another way."

Ethan pulls a gun on Brandt but he instantly knocks it out of Ethan's hand. Ethan then grabs him by the neck and pushes him forwards, grabbing the gun that rested at Will's back and pointing it at him. But Will grabs the gun back, out of his hand and points it at Ethan. At the same time Jane and Nikki pull out their guns and raise them to Will, while Benji remained sitting down at the table too shocked to move.

"How does an agent with skills like that end up an analyst?" Ethan asked rhetorically.

Will lowered the gun and so did Nikki and Jane. He dropped the clip from the gun and then popped out the bullet that was left in the chamber.

He looked across at Nikki then glanced down at the floor. "Well, we all have our secrets." He said looking up at Ethan. "Don't we, Ethan?"

Brandt handed the gun back to Ethan and he took it carefully, walking up to him.

"You tell me yours, I'll tell you mine." He said without missing a beat.

Brandt looked at him up and down and was about to say something, but he quickly closed his mouth again and looked to the team. Will moved to the stairwell support and slapped his hand against it, leaning his forehead against his arm.

There was a vibration and Ethan pulled out his phone. He took one last look at Brandt waiting for an answer but it didn't come so he walked over to the table and placed Brandt's' gun down on it. "I have friends in the region. Just sit tight. I'll send someone to get you out of here." He told all of us.

"What about Hendricks? What's the plan?" Jane queried.

"The plan." Ethan said turning around to look at her. "Was for us to stop him together." He said looking at Brandt.

"Well, what are you going to do?" Benji asked.

"Change the plan." Ethan said walking out of the door.

"Wait. That's it?" Nikki exclaims, wanting a little more detail than just 3 words.

Ethan shuts the door behind him, having said everything he had to say.

"What are you going to do, go after him alone?" Benji called aloud to him but he was already gone.

Everyone stared at Brandt as he walked across the room to collect his stuff.

"Would you care to explain yourself? Agent Brandt." Jane asked aggravated as Brandt picked up his jacket and a bag.

"Wait, where are you going?" Nikki asked in dismayed. He stopped and turned to look at her and she gazed back at him disappointed.

He exhaled regretfully and looked down at the ground then back up at Jane.

He dropped his stuff back down on the floor and then walked over to the corner and grabbed a bottle of scotch along with some cups. He poured himself a glass and stood against the stairwell support, swirling his drink around in his hand.

"I was on a protection detail in Croatia" Brandt started, looking up at the team then back down at his drink again. "Shadowing the assets. Husband and wife. They were never supposed to know we were there. The whole thing routine. It was a milk run." Brandt said finishing off his drink.

He put the glass down on the table next to him and scratched his head.

"Three days in." he continued putting his hands in his pockets "We caught wind that a Serbian hit squad was after our couple. But, my team had it under control we knew they we're coming. But I couldn't shake this feeling, that I should warn the couple somehow. I wanted to find a way to let them know." He paused looking in the distance reliving the old memory. "But, orders are orders so I didn't." He gulps then heavily sighs looking up. "One day the husband decides to leave the hotel and go for a run so I follow him and I leave two men with the wife. When I get back, my guys are unconscious and the wife is gone. Local police found her body three days later; what was left of her anyway." He paused. "That was my last day in the field. I couldn't face another life or death situation after that."

Everyone sat there silently just looking at him.

"So what happened to the husband?" Jane asked sympathetically.

"Never saw him again." Brandt replied. "Until two days ago in Moscow when the secretary introduced me to Ethan Hunt." He said looking at us.

Everyone stared at Will wide-eyed. Nikki's breath escaped her. That's what Brandt was talking about on the train. He tried to tell her but couldn't. It's what was keeping him awake the whole time; haunting his dreams and filling him with regret.

Benji's mouth hung open as he tried to take in what Brandt just said. "Nooo that's- that's not what happened. She left him." Benji said looking from Nikki to Jane. Benji was about to say more but he couldn't, he couldn't find his voice.

"I know, I heard that one too Benji. But unfortunately I was there. Just like I was there when the secretary got the phone call, that Ethan was in custody for killing six Serbian nationals in cold blood."

"An unsanctioned hit." Nikki said remembering what Benji told her.

"Yup." Brandt mumbled.

"Disavowed." Jane said quietly.

He sighed again, walking over and sitting down at the seat at the end of the table near Nikki, knocking his fist on the table.

"Next thing I know, I'm on a plane to Dubai. Wondering the whole time, do I tell him?" He said to Jane. "How do I tell him?" He said looking at Nikki. "That I'm responsible." Brandt gazed at Nikki almost crying.

Naked emotion hung in the air between them. She saw the pain return to his eyes again, but this time it wasn't held back like on the train. His caged burden was gushing from his soul. What was once hidden, now bleed onto the table in front of him for all see.

Nikki's throat tightened and her ears rung as she tried to hold back the tears threatening to fall. She swallowed, pushing down the sorrow building up in her chest.

"I could have warned him." He said to Benji "I should have warmed him. But I didn't." he said looking down at the table. "And she died." He said looking back up at Nikki. Brandt stared into her bottomless brown eyes, uncertain what to do next.

She took her hand and placed it over his, clutching it. Her heart was breaking at the waves of pain she could feel coming off him. He was broken and she didn't want to say anything for the fear that he might shatter into a million pieces.

She wanted to help him. She wanted to take away all the pain that lied behind his eyes; then find all the shattered pieces of his soul and put them back together.

But for now, She could only grip his hand. In the hopes it would hold some part of him together.


	10. Chapter 10

It was still quiet long after Brandt had left to go upstairs. Dusk had fallen but Benji and Nikki were still sitting at the table. Jane had left to rest her head in one of the rooms.

Benji was typing away on his computer but every so often he'd notice Nikki staring up at the stairs, wondering.

"I think you should go talk to him." Benji said

Nikki looked at Benji contemplating. But then looks back down again. "He needs time to himself."

Benji looked down at his watch. "Um. I think he's had plenty." He exclaims in a joking manner, but Nikki doesn't laugh or look up at him. She just sits there unmoving.

Afraid he's offended her he closes his laptop screen and folds him arms over the top of it. "What I really meant was I think he's had plenty of time to himself all these years." He muttered more seriously now.

Nikki looks up at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well- you know-" Benji said in a tone like he was trying to avoid offending people. "-He's an AGENT." He said, emphasizing the "agent" and gesturing towards the stairs. "Agents aren't really the type's to share their feelings. They keep that sort of stuff bottled up." Benji made a gesturing action towards his heart. "And from what I've gathered. He's had that bottled up for quiet a while now-"

"You're an agent too, Benji." Nikki said cutting him off.

Benji sighed. _He said all that and that's all she picked up?_ "Yes. But I'm an agent that also has friends, like you. And Ethan. He's- well… he's got no one. He needs someone. For- you know. Support."

Nikki looks up at the stairs again pondering.

"I'd send Jane up there but- I don't think they'd get along very well." Benji said jokingly, thinking back to when they were at each other's throats just hours before.

Nikki instantly turned to look at Benji giving him a knowing look.

For a second Benji wondered why she was looking at him like that but then he clicked. "I would go. But ah- you know… Men. We don't really do the whole- ah- 'Talk about feelings to one another' thing. It's more of a slap on the back. And grunt in acknowledgement." Benji did a little caveman grunt at the end, which made Nikki snicker.

Benji nodded his head towards the stairs. "Go on."

Nikki smiled and stood up, making her way up the stairs. But halfway up she stopped, and turned towards Benji. "You're a really great person, you know that?"

Benji was already back to typing away on his computer. "Oh trust me, I know." Benji answered, without looking up from his screen.

Nikki rolled her eyes and continued on her way towards Brandt's room.


End file.
